Because America is both a melting pot and a fairly young country, our shared culture is pop culture; we are influenced, informed, and ultimately reflected by television, movies, music, books, etc. And Bea Arthur's work on both stage and screen was defined by much more than her deep voice and deadpan delivery. It played an important part in our social change.

1.) Maude
The Tony and Emmy-winning actress worked in show business for most of her adult life, but it wasn't until she was 50 that she really made it big — in what she refers to as her "middle-aged Cinderella story" — starring in Maude (a spin-off of All in the Family) that ran from 1972 - 1978. In the title role of Maude Findlay, Arthur played an outspoken liberal feminist and civil rights activist, and the show was far ahead of its time, addressing topics of menopause, alcoholism, plastic surgery, and most notably, abortion.

During the first season, in a two-part episode titled "Maude's Dilemma," 47-year-old Maude discovers that she's pregnant. She and her husband and her adult daughter (Adrienne Barbeau) weigh her options, and ultimately, Maude terminates the pregnancy — a first for network TV. Although abortion was legalized in New York, where Maude was set, the episodes were broadcast in November 1972, two months before Roe v. Wade was decided. Two CBS affiliates refused to broadcast the program. Here's a clip:

Although Arthur enjoyed the role she played, she didn't enjoy another—that of a champion of the women's movement—thrust upon her, saying in a 2001 interview, "They just assumed I was the Joan of Arc of the women's movement. And I wasn't at all. It put a lot of unnecessary pressure on me."

Later in life, however, Arthur adopted some of the language of feminism when discussing the breakup of her second marriage, which she blamed on her dedication to her career. "I don't think I ever truly believed in marriage anyway. I guess marriage means that you're a woman and not a . . . person."

She elaborates on that — and the social importance of Maude — here, in this interview for The Archive of American Television.

2.) Sex and the Single Senior
Playing Dorothy Zbornak in the hit sitcom Golden Girls (which ran from 1985 - 1992), Arthur, and her costars Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White, achieved on prime time TV what seemed to be the impossible: Showcasing post-menopausal women as trendy, funny, and sexual. Way before Sex and the City was lauded for its portrayal of strong female friendships and the discussion of shopping-bag swinger lifestyles over brunch in NYC, Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, and Rose talked about their very active sex lives over plates of cheesecake in Miami. In this clip, the girls go out to buy condoms to prepare for a romantic cruise they're about to embark on with their boyfriends:

All four actresses on the show won Emmys for their roles, making it the first time since All in the Family that a sitcom had an entirely award-winning cast. (You can read an oral history of Golden Girls here.)

Of her role on the show, Arthur said, "It's very nice to have women realize that women our age can be attractive and well groomed and wear fabulous clothes and earrings, and have a sex life." Interestingly, when GG first premiered, Dorothy was about the age of Kim Cattrall in the SATC movie.

3.) Breaking the Mold
Having reached the crest of her career in middle age, and being 5'9, with a baritone voice, Arthur was not exactly the ingenue. With her trademark, cutting one-liners, Arthur was way too salty for the sugar-and-spice female stereotype. Instead of fighting the aging process cosmetically, she used it to get a laugh and earn a buck, as seen in this Golden Girls clip.

She carried the same attitude later on in her career, as well, as seen in the TV Land show Back to the Grind in 2007. (Clip below.)

4.) Gay Icon
In addition to her work as an animal rights activist, Arthur involved herself in AIDS awareness, speaking at many events. (She once said, "Of course I have gay friends — doesn't everybody?" and when lesbian rumors surfaced, she responded, "I think it is because of the voice, but who cares?") Episodes of Golden Girls and Maude both addressed the subject of homosexuality, but this '70s performance, featuring Arthur singing about drugs with her friend Rock Hudson, stands out the most.

5.) Ribald and Refined
While a lot of the humor on Golden Girls was assuredly bawdy, Arthur pushed the envelope for a joke in real life, too. We leave you with her dramatic reading from Pamela Anderson's novel Star Struck, regarding anal sex.

Cheers To 'Maude' Bea Arthur [NPR]
Here's Looking At You, Bea Arthur [USA Today]
Beatrice Arthur: A Towering Comedic Talent From Another Era [LA Times]
'Golden Girls': A 20th Anniversary Oral History [EW]

Earlier: Bea Arthur: Golden Bitch
Bea Arthur Does Carrie Bradshaw In Old Lady Version Of Sex And The City

Her striking frame, raspy voice, and taste for one-liners made her a natural subject for female impersonators. Told of her drag following, Arthur said, "I'm flattered." Her roles as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof, the outspoken Maude Finley of All in the Family and Maude, and most famously, the caustic Dorothy Zbornak of Golden Girls, gained her an avid gay audience. No funeral is planned. In wigs and wisecracks, she will live forever.

Of the four Golden Girls, Arthur is survived by Betty White and Rue McClanahan. None of the three attended costar Estelle Getty's funeral last year. White told Entertainment Tonight:

I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much.. I'm so happy that she received her Lifetime Achievement Award while she was still with us, so she could appreciate that. She was such a big part of my life.

Update: The cult of Saint Beatrice has begun. Gays are posting this blasphemous Virgin Dorothy mashup in her holy memory:

(Photo by AP/Wally Fong)

And—much like the gay-cowboy motif into its third month of YouTube mashups—just when you think you've snorted out your last nose-chuckle at the congenial flautist's antics, along comes one more to tickle your funny places. We offer as evidence the recent (OK, fine, it ran a week ago, but we're having trouble staying up past 9 p.m. lately) appearance of Betty White on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, in which she affected the guise of a speech writer for superannuated candidate John McCain. The money shot, of course, is her succinct assessment of his running mate—"That is one crazy bitch!"—before segueing into a lip-smacking meditation on the Democratic challenger that almost makes us wonder if the former Golden Girl hasn't been lingering in the far corners of Craigslist lately.

• Late Late Show [CBS]

The popular lunch spot Joan's On Third appeared to be the scene for a serious heart-to-heart for Gossip Girl star Michelle Trachtenberg and an unidentified friend. Trachtenberg was not only all ears for her friend, but she also picked up the tab. Her friend told her that she's felt a bit out of it ever since they've lost one of the Golden Girls and it just made her think about their own group (also called the Golden Girls). Trachtenberg said that there would be no need to worry about their golden group just yet, seeing as how they're as solid as the mountains at Yosemite. Trachtenberg then thanked her being a friend and, finally, asked if the friend if she would be interested in holding hands as they left the restaurant, noting that she's sure to get a mention in Life & Style if she jumps on the Lesbian Chic bandwagon.

[Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin]

*A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.

And in case you didn't know, Estelle had a workout video for senior citizens.

The freaks, geeks, and random old dudes in drag were out in droves Saturday night at curator Lenora Claire's "Golden Gals Gone Wild" opening night party at the World of Wonder gallery in Hollywood. It was a strange night, where cross dressers mingled with Goths, random hipsters and even the token Hollywood personality. Take leather-and-mesh-clad Kim Fowley, for instance: 70's rock star impresario and creator of The Runaways; Giovanni Ribisi; Elizabeth Daily ("I'm a loner, Dottie, a Rebel"), Mean Girls' Daniel Franzese. The art was just as...shall we say...eclectic, flying in the face of the sanctity that is Sophia Petrillo, with pieces showing her in the glory that is naked old lady flesh. Other works included Gestapo Rose and Betty White Power, Blanche Devereaux in a confederate flag bikini; Dorothy going spreadeagle and showing us the nooks behind her, um, grannies. I bet somewhere, a little town called St. Olaf is collectively gasping...

• Previously: The Reeducation of Dorothy Zbornak [Defamer]

In an attempt to atone for that transgression (and to repay in some small fashion all the joy she gave us by pimp-slapping that mouthy Rose back to St. Olaf each and every week of the show's seven seasons), we pass along this Entertainment Tonight segment on Arthur's episode of TV Land's Back to the Grind, in which the rerun-obsessed network generously attempts to return retired sitcom stars to mainstream society by giving them the practical work skills they once faked for millions of viewers. We know by the time you get to the part where she chews out the kid for texting, you'll already have forgiven us for the bad thing we did.

• Entertainment Tonight [ETOnline.com]